


Each Touch A Drawing

by RebeccaAnabelBurrows



Series: A Study in Soulbonds (Unrelated Works) [7]
Category: DCU, Justice League - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Can I say that for this one ?, Drawing, First Kiss, I could have rated this G, M/M, Punching, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Touching, Well I guess approximative tagging will be what I will be known for in this fandom, but there's a swear word or two there, the end is really sappy for some reason ??, yeah well have some fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:48:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24490009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebeccaAnabelBurrows/pseuds/RebeccaAnabelBurrows
Summary: Whenever they touch, drawings appear on their skin.The first time they touched, it was mostly an accident. In the end, the touching was very much not an accident.
Relationships: Hal Jordan/Bruce Wayne
Series: A Study in Soulbonds (Unrelated Works) [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1687879
Comments: 12
Kudos: 161





	Each Touch A Drawing

**Author's Note:**

> My last reviewers had been especially kindhearted and I'd like to thank them.  
> Just a quick word for future reviewers on any of my works : I understand French, English and Spanish but my own Spanish is quite rusty so there might be mistakes in my answers (in the English ones too, now that I think of it but hopefully my French is alright).  
> Shy reviewers, if you don't want an answer, just tell me ("Please do not answer this" is perfectly okay !) 
> 
> I also recognize some reviewers, kudo-ers' and bookmarkers' names sometimes and I love having regulars (they're more Batlantern regulars than my own regulars but it's nice nevertheless). 
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy this one -

The first time they touched, it was accidental. Well, not that accidental, but it was not very pleasing. Hal’s bare fist made contact with Bruce’s uncovered chin and there was no doubt there would be bruises, both on Batman’s face and Hal’s knuckles. 

Well, that was what you get for breaking into a superhero’s flat at night. 

“The fuck, B !” Jordan had groaned when he had recognized the Bat, massaging his aching knuckles.

Even in the dark Bruce could say he was shirtless and probably had been asleep when Bruce had triggered whatever alarm he had in the flat - the quickness of Jordan’s response (he had lunged at Bruce only a few seconds after he had broken in) would have been more impressive if the man had thought of activating his ring. 

Not doing it had been a strategic error. He said so by way of an apology for his unorthodox entrance. Hal had looked murderous, saying he didn’t need people to see green light coming from his flat and asking questions after and what the hell Bruce was doing there ? 

It was obvious that there were a lot of things Hal wanted to say but that his prime goal was to get Bruce away from his flat.

“What if I hadn’t been alone ?” Hal added, not letting Bruce explain himself. 

“I did my research.”

Hal turned his back to his teammate to calm down. Obviously, Batman did his research and had files on them all, it wasn’t much of a surprise. But that he dared admitting it to Hal’s face ? 

“You… Splendid. Have you ever heard of that concept ? Privacy, they call it. Most people like having it. I like having it. What the hell are you even doing here ? Is it a weird League’s rite of passage I missed some time ago when I was off planet ? Batman breaks into your place and scares the shit out of you in the middle of the night ?”

“You’re finished ? We need you at the Watchtower, now. We couldn’t reach Superman and Wonder Woman and someone with some practical knowledge with alien technology is needed. It’s rather urgent.” 

Hal had cursed under his breath, dressed quickly in the dark and followed Bruce. He didn’t ask about Clark and Diana’s whereabouts which was a good thing because Bruce was salty enough about it without Hal adding to it. 

A few days later, as Hal was changing into his fly suit in Ferris Air’s locker rooms, he caught his colleague Davies staring at his back.

“Anything you like ?” he said, throwing his shirt at him.

His co-worker had laughed and punched his shoulder lightly..

“I was having a look at your soulmark, asshole ! Mine hasn’t showed up yet.”

“I haven’t noticed mine had.” Hal had murmured, surprised. “Can you take a pic ?”

“With your phone, else Lisa is going to ask why I have pics of mysterious muscular guys’ backs on mine.”

For a long time, Hal had stared at his phone. He knew it could happen, many people out there had soulmates. It just hadn’t really occurred to him that it would happen to him. It was more of a distant thought than something concrete in his mind.

More extraordinary things had happened to him, but he felt as unprepared for this one than he had when he had become a Lantern. 

The elegant, thin vine climbing along his spinal cord was beautiful. And quite important for a first contact. People said it was a good thing, predicting a long and steady bond. Hal wasn’t even certain he hoped so.

What was he going to do ? Having a soulmate while working with the League and the Corps was impractical, but chances were his soulmate wouldn’t see things that way. Maybe Hal wasn’t willing to give up on a soul connection either, if he was honest with himself. 

“Hey buddy, you’re okay ?” Davies had asked when he had changed into casual clothing, ready to go home and found Hal still looking at the screen. 

“Yeah, yeah. See you later.” Hal had said amiably, putting the rest of his suit on.

Flying would clear his mind. It always did. 

Bruce’s mark had been more visible and he had noticed it soon after its appearance.  
When he had started pulling his Batman suit off in the Cave, actually. A flash of green in the periphery of his vision had caught his attention. A large green dragonfly was covering his left hip. 

Wonderful. It was certainly not there when he had put the suit on, and Hal Jordan’s place had been his only destination. And it wasn’t like he couldn’t pinpoint at which moment they had made contact. Hal’s right hook was quite something. 

Well, at least Bruce understood the pull he felt towards the other man better. He took a better look at the drawing on his skin. He traced the dragonfly out with his fingertips. 

A green flying animal. One that looked harmless but was in fact a predator. He could only hope Jordan didn’t have a giant bat on his chest. Thinking of Jordan’s chest was certainly a bad idea and Bruce decided to just forget about his co-worker (and more than probably soulmate) for a while. 

The drawings on their skin had expanded just a small bit - a friendly handshake here, an accidental brush of arms there whenever they were in civilian clothes, which wasn’t that often - when Hal found out.

It was not long after Bruce had to patch Hal up roughly in their ship after a diplomatic League mission in space that had gone wrong. 

Bruce had touched his torso several times, then. Hal had been in too much pain - and then too many painkillers - to notice straight away, but when he woke up in the med-bay, his ribs bandaged, new patterns had appeared on his skin. 

He was getting familiar with the water-lily on his forearm, the half-moon and the dark sky on his left shoulder and he had no doubt the hive on his ankle was still there. 

However things weren’t how they used to be. There were four or five more stars in the midnight sky on his shoulder, and a pond had developed to keep company to the waterlily with some tadpoles into it. A red-pink dragon had taken place around the moon, hugging it. 

Hal wondered if the hive was surrounded by bees, now. 

He looked at the changes in puzzlement for a few seconds. How did he - oh. Yes, bandaged ribs meant he had been helped. And he knew by whom. So, Bruce. Hal didn’t have peculiar expectations about soulmates, so he didn’t mind.

It was what he told himself as his heart raced a little faster. 

Did Bruce even know ? Of course he did, the new patterns must have popped every single time he put his fingers on Hal’s skin - at least until he put gloves on, if he had. 

Their whole predicament might explain why he wasn’t there. Not that Bruce was great bedside material - Hal had seen him arguing with Oliver when the poor guy was still in convalescence. 

Hal rubbed his eyes and decided he needed more sleep to deal with this. When he woke up again, Bruce was there, in what Hal supposed was normal rich human clothes, staring at the wall behind Hal’s bed. 

“You brought me anything to eat, by any chance ?” Hal asked as his stomach growled. 

The Green Lantern felt like he hadn’t eaten for ages. He wondered how long he had been sleeping. 

Bruce’s gaze focused on him and he took a protein bar out of his utility belt wordlessly. He could easily have thrown the bar to Hal, or kept his suit and gauntlets on to not take the risk of touching again but he reached out to put the bar in Hal’s hand and close it on the bar instead.

Their skins met briefly. There will be testimony of that on their bodies. Hal felt himself blush stupidly. 

“Thanks.” he said, looking a bit too intently at the bar as he tore open the plastic wrapping around it.

He didn’t look back at Bruce until he was munching on it. It would prevent him to answer any unpleasant question Bruce was going to go for. 

However, eating with Bruce’s eyes on him was disconcerting to say the least/ Hal tried to forget about it and enjoy his meal, not very successfully. 

By the time he had finished, his teammate hadn’t said a word. Well, too bad Hal liked to talk, it was going to put him in trouble someday. Someday being now, possibly. 

“Nice job you did with that bandage. I am a bit disappointed you limited your artistic expression to my body, you could have put some colors there too.” 

It was obvious they both knew, there was no need to play dumb. Bruce’s gaze intensified and for a brief second, Hal wondered if Clark had given him pointers about heat vision. It certainly felt like it was getting hot here, and Hal wasn’t even wearing a t-shirt. 

“That’s all ?”

Bruce’s intonation clearly meant he had been waiting for more, but Hal wasn’t sure why. 

“Sorry ?” he said, troubled.

Bruce paced around the room a bit, before sitting on the chair next to Hal. 

“You’ve just found out we are soulmates, and that’s all you have to say ?” he said finally.

Hal just looked at him, wondering how the drawings on his skin looked like. Where they were. It was distracting to say the least and it took him longer to respond than it should have. 

“Yes ? What do you want me to say ?”

Bruce seemed to think about it for a little while. 

“Aren’t you angry ? Disappointed ?” 

Hal rubbed his eyes, willing the tiredness away. Why did Bruce have to make things difficult ? 

“Sure, this is terriiiiible ! My soulmate gets the superhero thing, is one of the cleverest guys I know even if he mostly uses his intelligence to be a pain in the ass, he cares a lot about the people he likes even if he sucks at showing his feelings and worst of all, he is sinfully attractive. I think I am good, thanks. Are you angry yourself ?”

If he was, Hal was going to punch him. None of this was his fault. 

“I thought so but I am not. Maybe it’s not the same for you, but it makes sense in some way for me.” 

Hal felt relief flood over him. So Bruce wasn’t against Hal being his soulmate. It was not an enthusiastic endorsement, but Hal could live with that. 

“I am not really surprised either, if it is what you are asking me.” he told Bruce.

“What do you want to do ?”

Count on Bruce to plan the death out of their soulmating. Hal couldn’t stop himself from smiling. 

“What we were doing, with maybe a bit more flirting and a bit less yelling. Getting to know each other better. Dating maybe if it’s something you want to ?” 

“You’d like to go on a date with me ?”

Was it awe in Bruce’s voice ? Hal was going to do like it was, it made him feel good. 

“On one condition. Take that damn shirt off.”

Bruce looked unimpressed, crossing his arms but Hal could tell his eyes had darkened. Touché. 

“What ? I want to see your soulmarks. You’ve seen mine, after all.” he shrugged.

“Is that all you want to see ?” Bruce growled, doing as asked. 

Hal whistled. Nice abs, there. Some scars too and a bunch of drawings - a kite, a supernova, a tower. A dragonfly disappearing under his pants. There was a lot of blank space, and Hal liked the idea that he would be the one to fill the space there. He wondered about the other drawings that probably adorned Bruce's skin. 

The view was rather nice but a closer look wouldn’t hurt, though. 

“Get closer, I am short-sighted.” he said to Bruce.

The Dark Knight only chuckled and shook his head. 

“You’re a pilot, Jordan. Your vision is damn perfect.”

Hal crossed his arms on his chest and Bruce indulged him, getting closer.

“Why am I trying to seduce a detective, again ?” Hal sighed dramatically.

“Just stop with the talking.” 

Hal scooted over and let Bruce sit on the mattress next to him. 

“Always so bossy.” he said, his eyes twinkling as they tried to find a comfortable position. 

“Be mindful of your ribs and just kiss me already.” 

Hal laughed before kissing him, yielding more readily than he usually did to Batman’s commands. 

They knew they were making new drawings emerge on their partner's skin, marking each other through their touch and it was intoxicating - they were kissing and laughing and it was - it was... Bruce didn't really have the words for this.

Later, when Hal had fallen asleep in the middle of their snogging session, still recuperating, Bruce had stayed, wrapping his arms around him carefully. He looked at Hal's peaceful face, at the daisy now on his neck. He knew the word for this. It was happiness.


End file.
